Home made Fruit Ice-cream :)

I saw a photo some time ago of lovely fruity ice-cream somewhere online. So when it got really hot (which doesn't happen very often in Wales) I thought I'll try and replicate it. It came out pretty good actually! The only thin I would change is probably putting cherries instead of strawberries for the red colour. Strawberries had way too much water in them and just didn't taste of anything.  The rest of fruit (banana, kiwi, blueberries) was great, because it had more body to it. I've packed the fruit into the molds and poured Pina Colada juice mix on top, which added a nice tropical twist to it :) 

Here's how it came out :)

Kid-friendly Chopsticks :)

We eat a variety of foods and often I'll cook some Chinese food. Of course the Chinese food should be only eaten with chopsticks :) And when our little one sees us using them, she wants to try as well. Only problem - her fingers are too small and trying to explain to a two year old which finger is suppose to do what is impossible :D So I made her a pair of chopsticks that are easy to use :) 

She loooved them !!!

I used a wooden peg, cheep chopsticks with flat sides and rubber band.

Testing new chopsticks on pasta :)

New Game with Floral Oasis :)

Here's little something to do on a rainy day with your toddler ;) My little one looooved it! We used a block of floral oasis foam to hammer some nails into :) Great for her motor skills too! Simple and so much fun :)

Queen's Diamond Jubilee Project :)

Even though the Diamond Jubilee celebration was nearly a month ago, I have only now got all the photos together for this post (shame on me). 

To celebrate this great occasion we made a glittering Queen's crown from anything and everything we could find :) We used some yellow cardboard for base, stuck loads of beads, glitter, stars on it. And even used some old stamps with her majesty's face on them :)

Finished crown

Her majesty :D 

And few shots from our street party <3

Recycling toilet paper tubes :)

When it is raining all day and you cannot go outside, you have no choice but try and find things that you can do inside :) I have got a lot of toilet paper tubes that we've collected and here's how we used some of them. With a help of spare laminate floor board, scissors and sellotape we made it into a marble run game. Except we didn't have any marbles so we used metal balls :D

Recycling Broken Umbrella into Poncho :)

I had a really lovely umbrella that I bought few years ago. It has broken few weeks ago. I really loved the print on it, so was feeling a bit sad to throw it away. But yesterday I had an idea! I decided to make it into a little poncho for my daughter :) Here's all the process and the result :) 

(click on images to enlarge)

I removed the frame first

It was only attached with few little threads

Cover

I've cut the collar out
(I think I made it too big)

Then I've taken two parts out for hood

Put two together and used a jumper for template

Cut out

I've connected the separated part, added the hood
and made collar slightly smaller

End result

And it was raining today!

Happy user :)

  Blueberry Cake

   Perfect served slightly warm, topped with crème fraîche, this     moist cake can be served as a dessert or as a treat at teatime.

  Ingredients

• 150g blueberries
• 125g self-raising flour
• 200g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• 4 eggs, separated
• 
  
• Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base and sides of an 18-20cm round, loose-based cake tin with baking parchment. Rinse the blueberries, pat dry and dredge in 1 teaspoon of the flour.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and 175g of the caster sugar until very pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks. Sift the remaining flour into the bowl and gently stir in.
3. Whisk the egg whites in a thoroughly clean bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually whisk in the remaining sugar. Using a large metal spoon, fold a quarter of the whisked mixture into the creamed mixture to lighten it a little, then fold in the remainder. Turn into the tin and gently level the surface.
4. Scatter with the floured blueberries. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or unitl the surface feels firm and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a serving plate. Scatter with extra blueberries and dust with extra sugar. Enjoy!!!