I apologise in advance for this recipe, because holy moly these boys are sinful! But totally awesome, everyone will love these and they keep really well for lunch-boxes throughout the week. [yumprint-recipe id=’4′]
Instagram is bad news brown for little love-to-shop Mamas like myself. I can’t remember how I stumbled upon Little Noggi but I’m SO glad I did. I purchased Nixie’s first, reversible Little Noggi hat in an Instagram sale and I won this beautiful lined …
So many iconic New Zealand brands are participating in New World’s Little Shop promotion but Sealord have taken it one step further this year; they have built two fully functioning Little Boats, complete with engine and rudder which will be given away to two lucky Sealord customers! All you have to do is buy Sealord at New World and swipe your Fly Buys card to get in the draw. Check out how cute the Little Boats are:
Our family was treated to a delicious lunch by Sealord including an amazing salmon, smoked mussel, orzo and micro-greens salad {which I’m totally going to try and recreate} but our favourite dish was the smoked Hoki pie and being totally cheeky I asked for the recipe – to share with you of course! {FYI We don’t have a smoker so I’d sub out the Hoki for a 450g tin of Sealord Smoked Fish Fillets}.
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Dave received a waffle maker for his birthday at the beginning of the month, so we have been faffing about, trying out different waffle recipes for the past three weeks and not been entirely impressed with any of them. Until today. Behold, The Jack …
Pass the wine. For the past 13 months I have been self-righteously patting myself on the back, mentally high-fiving because the huge age gap between our kids has been a huge non-event. And truth be told it hasn’t been difficult in any of …
About 6 weeks ago, my good friend Debbie gifted us some water kefir grains and a bottle of her own fermentation to see if we even liked it! We did, we ALL loved it and after a few hiccups initially things are brewing along smoothly! I now have two jars fermenting, ready on alternate days and the kefir grains have multiplied enough for me to prepare two new starters to gift to some lovely ladies this week. What is kefir? Originating in Mexico, water kefir grains (also known as Sugar Kefir Grains) allow for the fermentation of sugar water or juice to create a carbonated lacto-fermented beverage. The ‘grains’ are not grains at all but little globules of bacteria and yeast which work their magic in the sugar water, the result is a great tasting, fizzy, probiotic and viatmin filled healthy alternative to juice etc.
So, what’s involved? Follow the steps below and have a look;
Getting started with water kefir grains is easy, and definitely made easier by having everything you need on hand.
Step 1: Add your 4 tablespoons of raw sugar, 3 cups of water and 6 tablespoons of kefir grains into your large jar in this order. If you add the sugar after the kefir you can end up with cloudy broken grains.
Step 2: Add your raisins, molasses if you want, a pinch of baking soda and half a lemon. Try and pick as many pips out as you can before adding your lemon, then you won’t have to separate them from the kefir grains later.
Step 3: Store in a dark, warmish place for approx 48 hours until you see your raisins float, see pic below.
This pic shows why you need such a big jar when you are only adding 3 cups of water; the fermentation process omits a lot of gas causing pressure to build inside the jar – see how my mighty kefirs have popped up the lid? If your jar is too small you may risk a kefir explosion!
Step 4: Once your raisins are floating, scoop them out, also remove the lemon, squeezing the juice back into your jar.
Step 5: Prepare your bottle for the second fermentation. If you choose to flavour your kefir add this now. I’m loving the Barker’s Lite Blackcurrant flavour at the moment. If you aren’t adding any flavour just stick your funnel in the bottle.
Step 6: Using your funnel and sieve pour the liquid from your large jar into the bottle, seal and pop back in the dark cupboard for another 24 hours.
Step 7: Refrigerate and enjoy!
As I mentioned earlier, the kefir grains will multiply so when you notice you have a bit more than the 6 tablespoons required for a fermentation, place the excess in a small jar in the fridge with 1 tablespoon of sugar and enough water to keep them covered plus a bit more. Your kefir grains are now ready for more, so give them a light rinse and begin again from Step 1!
Finishing a book, or even starting or reading a page of one is a rare luxury these days but one I DO enjoy, so I will plod on s l o w l y lol. This is a book I really wanted to finish sooner, …
#need shopping today
Selley’s Liquid Nails: to fix the stupid handle on Nixon’s Mocka Wooden Trolley that refuses to stay stuck
Cheap nappies: Nixon poos like a champ now approx 7 times per day at least, expensive Huggies are now reserved for nights only
New Nursing bras: After wearing the same dingy nursing bras for 13 months I decided to splash out at the Farmers sale and get a couple of new ugly bras. Nix is showing no signs of ditching the boob so we will soldier on with the shoulder snaps
New swim pants for E: He blew the ass out of his old ones, cheers Farmers!
New Flippers for E: My swim fins from my surf lifesaving days approx 17 years ago finally bit the dust so popped in to Stirling Sports to pick up a new pair
Plastic farm animals: Nix likes to moooo, or maaaaa if I’m being honest. It’s a fab cow/sheep combo sound that he invented himself! Maaaaaaa. Found these gems at The Warehouse.
{Not pictured but equally exciting were baby wipes, Dettol spray cleaner and three dog beds for the assholes.}
So, lets preface this post by saying, this is something I’ve been thinking about for a wee while, no, I’m not preaching to the choir as I’m fully aware that I’m the biggest shop-a-holic there is pretty much. So hello Pot, I’m Kettle.
If you’re an avid Instagram user such as myself, you would have undoubtedly come across the #wantneed hashtag at some point. Basically 95% of my feed is images that I could classify as #wantneed; beautiful linen, $50 baby leggings, $600 hand-woven rugs, models with legs for days shopping for Chanel purses, underground Etsy crafters creating handmade masterpieces that would look so fab on my wall {if I had any room left on my walls to hang shit}. Even my fave second hand store has an IG account, tempting me with Scandi Bloomingville wares that aren’t even second hand wtf?!!!
Instagram is rad and I seriously love it, but holy hell if it doesn’t make my credit card burn a hole in my wallet every time I see a Needle & Nail chopping board – not that they are overpriced, they are just gorgeous and gorgeous = #wantneed! I keep thinking of this one IG account, a very stylish mama in Australia with a gang of cute kids. If I unfollowed her there is a chance I would not know where to buy the hottest espadrilles this summer, I may not know that Kip & Co have a new linen range out soon or I may never have heard of Mini Rodini {GASP}.
And would any of this matter?
Not in the fucking slightest.
None of this matters if you have infinite disposable income or at least enough to be able to live with yourself for spending $69 on a baby onesie. I guess what prompted me to finally get this post out of my head was that viral Momastery post about the lady and her damn kitchen – didn’t we all look appreciatively at our kitchens for about 3 hours after reading that, regardless of whether our backsplash had subway tiles or not?. Surely this wondrous social media comprised SOLEY of images is doing our heads in, and perhaps our bank balances? It’s natural for us to gravitate towards the trend-setters, the beautiful people with the beautiful children and designer decor, but maybe this 24-7 access to how the other half lives runs the risk of normalising excess and amplifying the rampant consumerism that we are already mired in?
Nixon’s poor bott is requiring a LOT of attention post-op, lots of time and lots of money are being focused on his nether region and I’m just so thankful that a) I am fortunate enough to be able to give him my time all day every day and b) that we have the money to spend on his medicine, most of which is non-subsidised. It’s really given me a bit of a wake up call about what I spend money on to be honest. So that is where todays pic comes from; a flat-lay not of lust-worthy clothes, shoes or accessories, but an image of everyday, normal mummy shopping. No #needwant items to be seen but plenty that I’m grateful for xx
Today I hung the washing out in the sunshine, listening to an Oprah and Deepak meditation on my phone {no, for real I was! check it here}. And then it hailed. I spent 10 minutes changing the baby’s diaper, blow drying his bum and gently applying …
