Filling in some Blanks on Saturday...

So, it's long weekend once again! Thanks Will & Kate!

Which also means I am behind on blog reading & blog posting..

A firm believer of better late than never...

Here's my FITB...

~as always {via} if you want to join~

1.   I am looking forward to       going away somewhere.. I feel like I have barely left Edinburgh at ALL this year and it's making me super sad... But it's almost May and at the end of May I will be going to Ireland to see Ms K!! and then July I get to go back to my 2nd(3rd?) home and visit all my peeps in Canada! not to mention going to two weddings!! and the epic road trip with my Mr J... Is it sad that I am thinking about organising an iPod playlist already??   .

2.  Something kind of embarassing that I still love anyway is    monkey soft toys! well.. soft toys in general... but monkeys especially...  .

3.  My favorite car is     a VW dormobile, an old skool mini - preferably in british racing green with white stripes and even better with a union jack painted on the roof!, and if someone were to deliver an aston martin vanquish I wouldn't say no to it either!!   .

4.  If I could pick one type of weather to live with for the rest of my life it would be    sunny & hot with a cool breeze & no humidity... (as long as I have AC to escape when it gets too hot..) but there must still be places where it's cold and snowy so I could get my snowboarding on.. but for day to day living... sunny & warm please!!   .

5.  My favorite thing to do after a bad/stressful day is     have a long hot shower & hang out in pj's... either with the internet and some music on or tv... long hot showers always make everything better and nothing bad ever happens in pj's...  .

6.  This weekend       I had coffee with Mr M whom I haven't seen in an age & went charity shopping! Then went to Mr T & Ms D's going away drinks...  Tonight is Cara & Kayleigh's 21st as well as Mr. S's 30th round 2..  not sure what the plan is for tomorrow... Or Monday... chillaxing.. hopefully finding the motivation to tidy up my couch and get my DIY on...   .

7.  If I were a color, I'd be       rainbow      because,       I'm a little bit of everything all rolled into one (name that song!) :D that was actually unintentional until I'd written half the sentence...  It might sound like a cop-out but I'm not really any one thing.. I'm a little bit of everything... and one of the quizzes I just took said I'm rainbow because "Your a random person. So I said rainbow because one minute you like yellow then green then its purple. Or and don't forget about red!! So your a outgoing and crazy person. You can be deep and serious but not often!"  HAHA  funny coz it's true..   . 

Happy Weekending!!

CornBread!!

So, I know I promised this recipe FOR-EVAH ago... but we've had been inundated with long weekends galore here in the UK, which means a) I'm completely behind on my blog reading - I tend to read them at work in my downtime... which in turn leads to b) I haven't had much motivation to post and c) I've been out and about doing stuff, enjoying the sunshine & generally not stuck in front of a computer screen!!

So all that aside... here is the long awaited cornbread recipe...
Thanks to Ms Kos for posting it on her blog so I could indulge in the yumminess and share it with you all here too!!  Has anyone made them delectable ribs yet?? (I know Ms Kos made them yesterday!) How did they turn out?? Were they delicious or were they DEEEE-licious??!!! Or did you sit there thinking.. this Caz girl.. she needs her tastebuds checked!! These are blimmin AWWW-FUL!?!  (I highly doubt it, but there's no accounting for taste you know!)


Without further ado!

Yummy & delicious with pieces of corn all throughout... mmmmmmm!!

Cornbread - via Ms Kos from Donna Dooher

What you will need:

• 1 cup corn kernels  - as in cut them off the corn, or a can from the Green Giant...  when I first read it, my immediate thought was... popcorn kernels!?!?! huh!?!?! ummm.. yea... NOT the sharpest tool in the shed at times....
• 1 cup cornmeal  - cornMEAL... not cornFLOUR... do NOT make my idiotic mistake!! - read above about sharpest took in the shed...
• 1 cup flour  - I used wholemeal the first time and white the second.. I quite like how the wholemeal tasted..
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fine salt - I used sea salt coz that's all I got and it turned out just fine!
• 1 cup buttermilk - first time I used natural yoghurt (as opposed to greek, for those smarty pants that will go, what kinda yoghurt isn't natural?? hardee harr harrrr, yea, don't give up the day job!)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp jalapeno, finely chopped - I don't usually have chillies on hand... so I just threw in some chilli powder... second time I forgot entirely.. oops... still tasted good tho!!

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 400 (200). Place the corn on a baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.

• Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl beat together the buttermilk, butter and egg. Combine the jalapeno and corn with the dry ingredients until evenly distributed. Fold in the buttermilk mixture until just combined. 

• Pour the batter into a pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean. - Original Donna recipe calls for a skillet... I don't have a skillet... so I just dumped it into my silicone round cake pan and into the oven it went!! If I had a loaf time I probably woulda used that.. but I don't have one of them yet so... my cornbread came out round... it all looks the same in your tum!!  (Or if you're really crass - ie. my uncle.. "it all looks the same coming out!!")

This was round 2..

Happy Eating!!

Long weekend recap

I am sad that my 4 day weekend is coming to an end... Back to work tomorrow.. but it's only a 3 day work week because we get Friday off!! Yeeehaa!! Thanks for the free day off Will & Kate!! (Uhh.. that is "The Royal Wedding" of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton, in case you've been living under a rock... or maybe just outside the UK!)

Friday

*Sleep in
*Make lunch for the mister (he had to work - HAHA!, but he came home for lunch)

In a never ending quest to find more things to sandwich bacon between... TATTIE SCONES!!

*Baked mint & choc chip cookies
*Uploaded photos to picasa and organised it into albums ready for each post I'm going to do, rather than all being jumbled up in one HUGE album...
*Made cornbread
*Made pulled pork
*Ms Yaz came over for craft night.. she worked on another shirt skirt and I fixed my pj bottoms, finally sewed the velcro onto my pillowcase cushion cover and got started on turning a duvet cover I thrifted into pj bottoms...

Saturday

*the mister & I went to get our hair cut - thanks Groupon!!
*we went to IKEA - we bought two Pello chairs, some Gorm baskets for our Albert in the kitchen, ice lollie makers, some elderflower syrup, some hemming tape & I found a curtain & cushion in the clearance section that I'm going to turn into a nice cushion for our bedroom...
*we then quickly got ready to go to Mr S's 30th B'day & Leaving Party Ceilidh.. it was AMAZING!! We had such a great time!! a ceilidh is like a big dance... (think like a ho-down or a barn dance) hahaha...  I will hopefully get photos up soon so you can see!!

Sunday

*it was a super sunny day so we decided to go to Jedburgh to see the Jedburgh abbey (I will post a separate post about our trip)
*I totally spaced and forgot Joe was in town after a tour of the Highlands... but we made it back in time to meet up with him before he had to get on the overnight bus back to London.. and I totally forgot to take a photo of us together... but I took photos of the food we ate at The Albanach!!

I had the beef stew with suet dumplings.. it was totally nommy!!

the mister had Balmoral Chicken - chicken stuffed with haggis

Today

*sleep in
*take lots of neurofen for tum cramps.. :(
*vacuum the flat
*tidy up my dressing room (our spare room where most of my clothes live, the mister has his clothes in the wardrobe in our room)
*put laundry on x2
*bake ferrero rocher/creme egg/mars egg/caramello egg cupcakes
*bake another batch of mint choc chip cookies - will post recipe soon..
*make pork noodle soup for dinner - there's a post coming up about that too!
*catch up on lots of blog reading
*thinking about baking some ANZAC cookies for ANZAC day today...

Good Friday's Blank Filling

1.   Fridays are       for chillax'n...  I'm a total nana and teatottler.. After an entire week at work.. I just want to put on my jimjams and relax..  

2.    Inside jokes and generally being juvenile and being able to do nothing!    make me terribly happy.

3.  Something that inspires me is     the world and the people around me... things I see , touch, smell, hear all invoke creativity as well as acceptance...   

4.  If I had the day off today I would     get out of bed at 11, attempt to organise my "office" (read, couch with all my crap on it), contemplate doing some laundry, try to decide what I want to bake, prod the pork in the slow cooker, think about doing some cleaning... because it's Good Friday and I actually have the day off!! WOOP!!   

5.  If I had to put a label on my home decor style, I would say my style is    eclectic... kinda like me... I love things which are modern, sleek & functional, but I love vintage touches - especially vintage things to display.. at the same time I love all the kitch'y things I've bought home from various travels.. so it really IS a mix of everything... kinda like me!  

6.  Concerning politics I would say I'm       an absolute dunst and atheist! I know I should care, but I don't... and for the past 6 years I've lived in countries where I can't vote, so I care even less... and some people will probably tell me off for this, but I've never voted.. even in NZ when I could vote, I didn't... people say, "if you don't vote, then don't complain" and I don't.. coz I just DON'T CARE! because I feel like you end up voting for the lesser of two evils.. if there was a party with whom I agreed about everything.. then I would vote for them.. but so far.. there has been noone I whole heartedly support.. if I could vote no confidence, I probably would...    

7.  I'd like to go to      the Bahamas      so I could       walk along the beach & drink cocktails poolside on a nice sun lounger...!  

Happy Friday & Long Weekend!!

Oh and as always.. go visit Lauren @ The Little Things We Do if you want to play along!!

Post #100!! Some General Monkeying Around

Wow! I can't believe this is my 100th post already!! How have I found so much to tell you about in such a short 3 months??!! I suppose doing the 30 Days of Me challenge has greatly contributed to that number..

Well, to celebrate my centenary(??) I thought I would share some general ridiculousness with you.. well.. just because I can!

This weekend we had breakfast tortillas... but a couple of the tortillas were mouldy.. so we kinda ran out... but never fear!! Who needs a tortilla when you have BACON!!

Behold!! Pop all your toppings (in this case, scrambled egg, peppers & onions) in the middle of your bit of bacon... top with a drizzle of sri-racha....

Stuff it in your mouth...

Enjoy!! 

(yes, I am juvenile and gross.. there is a group my wifey started on FB called "Caz eats Things" - no joke) 

This weekend, in the parking lot of IKEA...

 WHY???!!! Aside from to amuse other people on the road!?!?!

Whilst IN Ikea... 

I actually first made the mister sit in the kiddie chair!! HAHAHA

There was a moment when he was getting up when I thought we were going to have a 

{via} 

moment!!

Happy 100th post to me!!

Thrifting Kitchenware...

A post somewhat dedicated to Mrs Biscuit

Ever since that fateful day when Mrs Biscuit was first to click on that "follow" button on this little ol' blog o' mine.. I have been on a hunt to thrift the perfect biscuit tin to send as a little thank you... (it was so surprising to know that someone out there was reading my ramblings! and someone I didn't even know!! [yet!] I feel like we are getting to be good bloggyBuds tho :] ) - this is how I feel about all "personal blogs" I read.. like I am getting to know a friend a little bit better with each and every post I read..

Here are some tins & jars I've come across in my travels..

 All from Tesco

These are all shiney and new.. and I really like each one for different reasons.. but I kinda feel like it's too easy to just go and buy one to send... do you have a favourite??

Also, with our shared love of thrifting.. I just think it would be so much more fun if I could thrift one... but trying to thrift a biscuit jar is harder than ya think!! Needing to take into account that it will be making a trans Atlantic journey is a major hindrance... then also finding one that isn't all dented and scungy inside is another...

A while ago, I saw a French Moulinex Mouli Grater for £4 at the Salvation Army around the corner from my work, and now I'm kicking myself for not buying it... considering I just found this post selling one for £15.70.. GAH!! but I can be a bit funny about buying kitchenware from charity stores... I usually sterilize anything that I will be eating with or off in boiling water with a bit of bleach.. everything else I wash in hot soapy water regardless...

What are your feelings?? Would you or do you thrift kitchenware???

Tangy Balsamic Ribs

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I told you to make the Spicy Dr Pepper Pulled Pork??

Well throw that sucker on the backburner.. coz these ribs totally take precedence... like TOTALLY.... they are SO delicious in fact.. that I have made them TWICE in four days... I made them Thursday night, took them to work for lunch on Friday, drawing just about everyone to the kitchen to investigate what I was eating.. then we ate them with cornbread for lunch on Saturday, and I bought ingredients to make it again when we were at the grocery store yesterday... yes.. they are THAT good...

Awesome thing???

They are SUPER easy!!! They will also make your house smell divine!

Tangy Balsamic Ribs adapted from Slow Cooker Balsamic Beef Ribs @ Tasty Kitchen


What you'll need:
1/2 cup of applesauce - homemade is best!
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
2/3 cup of reggae reggae sauce - or your fave bbq sauce...
750g ribs.. (we used pork)

What to do:
Put ribs in slow cooker...

Take 1/2c of applesauce...

Put it right on them ribs...

Measure out 1/3c of balsamic...

Measure out 2/3c of Reggae Reggae sauce...

 Here's the culprits...

(If you want you could mix all the sauces together then pour them on the ribs but that just creates extra things to wash up!)

Make sure the ribs are covered...

Throw on some pepper... 

Throw the top on your slow cooker... put it on LOW... let it do its thing for 4-5 hours.... [refer to edit below re: cooking times]

BEHOLD THE NOMMIEST RIBS EVER!!!!

MAKE THESE!!! TODAY!! TONIGHT!! RIGHT NOW!! 

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS YUMMY!!

YOUR TUMMY WITH BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL!!!

I'll stop yelling now... but seriously... please make these!!

And serve em up with a side of cornbread....

Recipe for that will come tomorrow...

[edit @ 13:20 18th April: having just had these at work for my lunch... I would say, if you are using big ribs like I did this time... let them cook for much longer than 5 hours... I would say, just keep cooking em until they are fall off the bone tender.... I also used a cheaper balsamic this time and you can def taste the difference.. there is not as much depth of flavour and it didn't caramelise as much as the more expensive balsamic I used last time.. I also put pepper straight on the ribs before adding the sauce.. but can't really see that making too much of a difference...??

Upon further reflection, when I made these last time, not only did I use racks of ribs and cut them up individually, I cooked them for about 6 hours overnight, but I cooked them on low for another hour the next day to heat them up, then left it on warm.. this was the fateful Friday night we also fell asleep.. and missed dinner, so for fear of making us sick using the slow cooker to reheat on Saturday, I threw them in the oven on about 180 for half an hour - this may have been key to the further caramelisation... so if you have the paitience I would def throw them in the oven (uncovered) for half an hour just to cook off some liquid and to make them super fantastic

I also meant to photo the cornbread but I forgot.. I have a piece left at home which I will photo & post with the recipe.. I was going to post it while I was at work, as we are going to dinner at a friend's tonight.. so recipe may come tomorrow instead..]

Easiest Homemade Applesauce

I have been making applesauce forever... I marinade chicken in it.. I marinade pork in it... recently I've also used it in my baking as a substitute for fats....

One of the reasons I make so much applesauce at the moment is because we get a fruit basket at work every Monday, and guaranteed there's always leftover apples on Friday afternoon... they just get chucked each week when the new fruit box arrives, so I decided to salvage them...

At first I was turning em into baked goods to take back to the office.. but baking is turning into a rather expensive hobby, so turning the apples into applesauce is cheaper and easier!!

Here's how you make your own...

Easiest Homemade Applesauce!

Peel your apples....  and core them.... I love my little apple shaped apple corer!! BEST kitchen tool EVER!!

Chop the apples into small pieces and pop in a pot.... add water... about half a cup...

    

Sprinkle on some cinnamon & brown sugar... do this to taste... (now would also be the time to add a squeeze of lemon juice if you have it - I didn't today..)

Cover pot... bring to boil... take lid off.. then put on low heat and simmer.... I left a fair bit of liquid in mine this time because I was going to blitz it with a hand blender... if I'm using it to marinate chicken, I let the liquid cook off more....

 

Blitz with a hand blender and voila!! Applesauce!!

Now.. this is probably much like any other applesauce recipe you'll find out there... I know it certainly is almost the exact twin of Mrs Biscuit's recipe!  But the reason I'm posting this because it's a critical step to making the most delicious ribs EVAH!! Recipe is on its way!!

Easy Peasy Trifle

I actually made this way back when we had our first house guest...

So far I've only posted recipes that I've adapted from other people.. this is the only reason why there are measurements!! I'm very much an "eyeball it" kinda person... I cook by sight and taste... so.. from here on in.. all the recipes that are vague on quantities... that's MY cookin!!

So here goes.. the first ever public posting of one of Caz's recipes... I don't really know when I first came up with this monstrosity.. or even HOW it came about... I know I made it in Whistler for orphan's X'mas Dinner in 2005.. and was told it was better than some people's grandmother's!! So.. it was already in my repertoire before then... annnyyyways.. without further ado...

Easy Peasy Trifle!!

You will need:
1 pack ladyfingers - I had some leftover, so don't feel like you need to use the entire pack..
2 cans of custard
1 tin of peaches - strained - mandarin slices also works well...
1 pack of jello/jelly (whatever you happen to call it) - made up per instruction ahead of time...
1 pack of berries - optional, I used raspberries this time because we happened to have some in the fridge...

What to do:
Put a layer of ladyfingers at the bottom of the bowl, cover it with custard (I didn't photo this step.. oops)

On top of the custard, put a layer of berries

On top of those, put another layer of ladyfingers

 Add another layer of custard & fruit (in my case, peaches!)

 Add another layer of custard & top with jello!!

This is what your trifle should look like from the side... the custard should be seeping through all the layers.. mmmmmm... now you gotta cover it with some kitchen wrap.... (I had none, so I just put an upside down dinner plate on to cover it)

Now put it in the fridge over night so the ladyfingers have time to soak up all that custardy nommiess!!!

I served mine in a spotty coffee mug!! :)  

This is what it looks like when you serve it... MESSSY!!!

You can make your trifles in little ramekins/cups/glasses so each person gets their own individual portion to make it look prettier.... :)

Also, you can pretty much use any fruit you want... just make sure each layer of ladyfinger has a layer of custard on top so they can soak in all that custardy goodness... kiwifruit is also a good choice... and if you're really lush, some whipped cream on top has never hurt anyone!!

I quite like trifle as a dessert going into warmer weather.. you can use lots of fresh fruit and aside from the masses of custard it's quite a "light" dessert, and it's delicious slightly chilled from the fridge... mmmm... now I wants trifle!!!

Let me know if you have a recipe for trifle... or if you try my recipe, I'd love to know how it turned out!!

30 Days of me - Day 30

Day 30 - Your favourite song

This seems like such a strange one to finish on... almost seems too easy.. tho as I type that.. I'm thinking... it's really hard to pick just ONE favourite song...

Usually the first song that comes to mind is

But this is definitely a close second

And these two follow pretty closely behind that

 

They are definitely songs I could listen to over and over and over again... and over the years.. I have.. 

So there you have it!! My complete 30 Days of Me challenge!! It wasn't all smooth sailing and I've had some hiccups on the way.. but I made it.. albeit a few days tardy.. but I'm proud that I stuck with it to the end!

It's a gorgeously sunny day outside today and I feel like I should be outside making the most of it.. but I just cannot find the energy or the enthusiasm... we did a lot of stuff yesterday, flea markets, thrifting, going to Ikea, Sainsbury's, stopping by my work and didn't get home till late, then I made dinner... spaghetti & meatballs a la Ikea!! Made my first ever homemade pasta sauce.. SO EASY!! Never buying pasta sauce again!! (HA!) 

Then we were up early again this morning to watch the F1 race and we were going to go shopping at Primarni, but I'm broke.. so.. :(  tho a guy just called me about going to see a bike he's selling on gumtree, so once the mister gets home I might see if we wants to head out and see it.. and if he wants to loan me some money so I can buy it... :)  But I haven't actually been shopping for bikes so I don't really know how much bikes are etc... and I hate buying things without shopping around first...  bah! I really just cannot be bothered today!! BAH!!

I kinda just want to stay home, maybe do the last fix on my shirt skirt project, catch up on my blogging and hang out in my kitchen... I have ingredients for noodle soup and to make more tangy ribs.. ( I gotta have something to eat with all that cornbread I made yesterday!!)... *sigh*

Do you have days like this?? Where you feel like you just cannot be bothered!!??!! 

Bah humbug!!

30 Days of me - Day 29

Day 29 - In this past month, what have you learned

- It is really hard to post everyday!
- It's really hard to make time to post about everything I want to post about!
- I'm terrible at going to bed early!
- I'm hideous with remembering dates..
- I carry around way too much crap in my handbag...
- I really really miss my friends and wish they all lived closer to me...
- Someone needs to invent Teleportation... STAT!!
- My new addiction is online shopping..
- I love shoes
- Charity shopping is SO MUCH FUN!! (I knew this, but kinda forgot)
- I quite enjoy sewing and making things...
- I don't have a trench or any Spring jackets...
- Having a slow cooker is AH-MAZING!!
- It's impossible to find a pot at charity shops! - I want one to melt wax to make candles..
- In the short time I've been blogging, I've made a couple of blogging buddies..
- I care more than I thought I would about stats.. considering I started this more for me and my friends...
- There are some awesome blogs out there which are really inspiring!
- I love that Formula One season is back!! It is one of the very few things I will wake up early for!
- Cornflour is NOT THE SAME as Cornmeal... oops!


For those of you who have missed me in the past couple of days from blogLand.. I came home on Friday night, pottered about, lay down for a nap at 7.30pm... and pretty much passed out until 7am Saturday morning... I woke up briefly when the mister came home.. then briefly about 11pm to turn off the slow cooker... Guess I needed the sleep!!

Saturday started with F1 qualifying, baking of cornbread (after sending the mister out for missing ingredients), then flea market, then cornbread & THE BEST RIBS EVAH! for lunch, then fixing my leggings, then a trip to Ikea, getting sidetracked by Sainsbury's (grocery store), then stopping by my work to pick up some stuff, then making dinner, then eating dinner @ 11pm, then more pottering about.. and before you know it.. there's the day gone!!

Hope you're having a great weekend!!

Friday is for Filling in some Blanks

As always via Lauren @ The Little Things We Do

1.   My favorite daily responsibility is,       cooking! I really enjoy cooking for people... I guess it's one way I can feel like I'm taking care of someone..  

2.  My least favorite daily responsibility is,    cleaning?? I don't actually do this on a daily basis.. maybe dishes?? But generally I cook, so I don't gotta clean!! I HATE drying dishes... like.. HATE... I think things should air dry.. it's more hygenic!! (so they say...) I don't like washing up, but I'll do it.. and I'll happily put the dishes away.. but physically drying dishes... blurgh..   

3.  My favorite cuisine to eat when going out is    seafood... and DUCK.... coz they are things I don't ever make at home..   

4.  My favorite cuisine to prepare at home is     noodles.. noodle soup... noodles.. curries... om nom nom... probably "Asian" if you really need a title for it... 

5.  Andy Warhol said that everyone is famous for 15 minutes. My claim to fame is     I've been on the cover of the NZ Herald! I've actually been in the herald about 3 or 4 times... WOO!! *ahem* yea.. not so much..   

6.  If I could have 3 wishes I would wish      to have all the wishes I want!?!?! Why is this not EVERYONE'S first wish???  health to all my friends, TELEPORTATION!! (hello!!!), bottomless bank account..  (with which I would build my dream house, buy some lush handbags, defo some Louboutins, a boat, some jetskis to play with... ) I'll just buy my happiness, thanks!! No really tho.. health to all my friends is a big one!! I'd buy them all nice things too with my bottomless bank account...   

7.  My biggest pet peeve is       people driving slow in the fast lane!! or people who walk slow and then abruptly STOP in the middle of the footpath.. WHAT THE EFF people!?!?!?! and people who don't pick up after their dogs... it's GROSS... if you want to own a dog... THAT is part of owning a dog... if you don't want to pick up after it... DON'T HAVE A DOG!!! ok, so that's three things... but they are the ones that annoy me on a daily basis... GRRRRR *shakes fist*   

Happy FRIDAY!!!!