Marbles & Cookies

Cookies in a click

2010-03-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to share this fantastic video which manages to combine photo shop and baking cookies in the most creative way...

Pretty neat don't you think!

mars

2010-03-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

I decided to continue with the collage idea for this month ...

Happy Spring!

Splodgy Cakes, Marshmallows and Mess

2010-02-28T06:09:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm back! It got cold again and had the cheek to snow even more then on top of that it rained, so I went and hid!

Now if only that had been an option the truth is I've had a lot on recently and that combined with the weather has prevented me from doing what I'd like to i.e. getting outside and playing with the camera so I've been feeling a bit low and not very communicative not to mention totally bogged down.

Enough grumbling! I need a laugh and you might too so here's the story of the cakes I mentioned in my previous post.

The wee one wanted to take birthday cake into school to share with her class because her birthday fell on a school day this year (being born near a mid-term break means this does not happen often). I was a bit reluctant as she is in primary 5 now and I felt that the school would be less keen on kids taking in cake to share as they got older but word came back that it "should be ok" (in other words teacher wanted some cake! lol) So keeping in mind that that teachers generally have enough to do in a day I figured I'd save the hunt for a knife to cut the cake and paper towels to serve it on by making individual cakes. Then followed that bright idea that rather than make cupcakes I could make mini cupcakes and chocolate dipped marshmallows! Pure genius! Couldn't be easier I thought!

So there I am in the kitchen with my friend having a good catch-up on everything and dolloping cake mix in to mini paper cases...

"really!" ... splodge... "what did you say to that?" ...splat ... "you're kidding!"... splodge...

the end result - way too much cake mix in the cases. What I brought out the oven was a tray load of over-sized, lopsided and mostly stuck together cakes... honestly it looked like I had poured the cake mix over the tray and the paper cases just happened to be in the way!

some of the rescued ones

When we were done laughing and eating the mess I had a second try without the chatting and I'm pleased to say they turned out great and went well when they went in to the school! But the lesson here is most definitely that old favourite of teachers everywhere, "less talking, more concentrating"

ta-da!

février

2010-02-14T13:28:00.000-08:00

Well February sneaked up on me pretty quickly and this months calendar was put together rather hastily but here it is any way ...

Lots of little love notes!

Happy valentines day!

Not only did the month sneak up on me it's currently flying by! The wee one's birthday has flew past and that's us on St Valentines day already. More about the birthday later, the cakes really deserve a post of their own! (for all the wrong reasons! lol!)

Happy Haggis Day!

2010-01-25T14:52:00.000-08:00

Just a daft wee post in celebration of Burns night. Scottish poet Robert Burns is remembered each year on his birthday with a traditional traditional meal of haggis, neeps and tatties (gross bits of sheep, turnips and potatoes).
There are also recitals of his poetry in particular Address to a Haggis which starts with the verse

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

An' aye the rest o' it's as lagn's his arm an' the rest! (I think this is a ploy, you see by the time the person reciting the poem gets to the end of it you'll be so hungry you'll eat just about anything including the aforementioned gross bits of sheep!)

Now there are all sorts of wonderful stories about what a haggis looks like and how to catch one but I'm not going to go into all that daftness. Instead I'm going to share some other haggis related daftness...

Let me introduce you to the McShoogle clan ...

Last year's trip to Iona had a distinctly Scottish flavour to it and we decided to entertain the kids with a haggis hunt (yes they are meant to look like haggis! ;-p) We made these and hid them all over the place and sent the kids to find them with a few clues to help, it was great fun!

They are easy to make you need some old (but clean!) pairs of tan tights, some newspaper (or old plastic bags - which can be retrieved and reused at the end of the activity!) and some permanent markers.

Cut the legs of the tights from the body part and cut off the toe part too.

Next cut them into equal lengths, you will probably need to overlap about 2 or 3 layers.

Tie a knot near to one end then stuff them and shape to look like haggis before tying the knot at the other end.

Next doodle faces and there you have it !

If you are hunting these guys out doors where others are you could attach a label as I did, it read something like "this is...(insert Scottish name)... he/she is just biding their time till the weans find him/her, please leave her/him here, thanks!"

Marbles on the loose

2010-01-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

That's right I'm getting out ! It doesn't happen often but I have two events in the near future (two! and we're still months from my birthday - must be Christmas again!)

The first one is the Reel Big Fish gig this evening, so I'm super excited about that. Hopefully I'll get some photos.

The second one is not till February and not only have I bought a dress (yes, a dress! I normally am not comfy in a dress but some situations call for a little bit of class) but I've also got this...

How gorgeous is that mask? I love it! I found it in an ebay shop - Just Posh Art . They have the most amazing selection of Venetian masks and I would happily recommend them.
So hopefully there will be some photos from that event too (maybe even proof I wore a dress! lol!)

The shot of the mask also sees me taking my first steps with my new DSLR. All I can say is I love it but wow! it's going to take me a while to get it all worked out :)

janvier

2010-01-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

I tried without luck to find a calendar I liked for 2010. There are many gorgeous calendars about but of all the ones I saw there were always 2 or 3 pictures I didn't feel like looking at for 28+ days. Then I remembered I had found a D.I.Y. calendar a few months before Christmas, so I figure now I have no one but myself to blame if the month looks less that great.

In a bid to make sure I don't give up half way through the year I've decided to share my efforts each month. So with out further rambling here's January...

Made with a patchwork of craft papers and various die cut snow flakes covered in glitter. (can't think what inspired this! lol! )

New year & new toy

2010-01-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

Firstly Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2010 is a fantastic year for you all!

I'm not even going to kid-on I resolved to blog more often, I know exactly how easily distracted I am. This year I dug out last year's resolution (same one as the last few years actually) which is simply - try something new at least once each month. It is possibly the only resolution I've ever been able to keep. The something new can be anything from a new type of food to an entirely new experience of one sort or another. Vague it may be but it's the vagueness that makes it easy to keep.

This month's new thing is getting to grips with my new toy! I finally got myself a DSLR at a great price on ebay. I've been wanting one for a long time but the cost of them is prohibitive so I was incredibly happy when I managed to find one in my price range and over the moon when I won the bidding :)

I finally got the battery charger for it today so now all that's left to do is start learning how it works and what all the buttons and dials do! Wish me luck! lol!

It's cold outside!

2009-12-24T12:49:00.000-08:00

It's not often I get caught out and have to do a Christmas Eve dash to the shops but every once in a while it happens. Shopping on the 24th of December is not for the faint hearted as I'm sure you'll know so I had two choices a) get up at stupid o'clock and be there for the shops opening or b) get there when I get there and elbow my way through the masses. Without a doubt stupid o'clock was the lesser of the two evils. So with the sun barely up and the temperature still below 0°C out to the shops I dragged myself and kiddo! Brrrr!
It was however worth the effort we were in and back out in 45 mins, last minute purchases in hand. The real pay-off though was the pictures I got. We took a wander round the side of the shopping center, through the frozen remains of the snow and the frozen fair ground, then down by the river and well ...

frozen statue boogers (tee-he-he!)

A view up the river

frozen remains of a web

So now all that's left to do is crack open a bottle of something and wrap the last few pressies - yes in that order, it makes trying to find the end of the sticky tape so much more fun ;)

Merry Christmas to all I hope it's a wonderful, happy, stress-free day for you!

Cinnamon Shortbread

2009-12-13T04:29:00.000-08:00

I love making shortbread and I love cinnamon so it makes perfect sense to fling some cinnamon in the shortbread mix.

See what I mean! now if only you could smell it!

Well you can if you make some...

you need

2oz caster sugar (superfine sugar)

4oz butter - at room temperature

6oz plain flour

2 tea spoons of cinnamon

It's easy to adapt this recipe for whatever measurements you use as it's a simple 1:2:3 ratio. The cinnamon can be adjusted to personal taste.

First cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl - now you know why the butter is best at room temperature!

Next put the cinnamon in with the flour and start adding it a big spoon full at a time, working in each spoonful before adding the next, otherwise you and your kitchen will look like you've been in a blizzard - yes I speak from experience :-)

Once all the flour and cinnamon has been worked in you should be able to get your hand in the bowl and bring the dough together into a ball. Flour your worktop and rolling pin, then roll the dough out to just under 1/2" thick and cut out your shapes. Bring the scraps together and re-roll till all the mix is used.

Put shortbread on a non-stick tray and fork it.

Then it's into an oven at 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4 for about 10 or 12 minutes - you know it's ready when the bottom and the edges are slightly golden in colour.

Finally sprinkle some more of the sugar over the top and leave to cool for a while (i.e. long enough to do the dishes clear the worktop and get a cuppa in hand! )

Enjoy!

Pretty as a Picture

2009-11-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

I'm very luck not to have to think too hard about this post as the lovely Éadaoin (your willing skin on flickr and etsy) agreed to me posting some of her wonderful photos and answering a few questions about her photography. I love everything about this lady's work, the detail, the light and the magic she manages to capture are amazing! See what I mean...

what dreams may come both dark and deep ~

What inspired you to pick up a camera and then keep going with it?

I've always been interested in art in all forms and have found different ways of expressing myself over the years, getting a camera just seemed like a natural part of the process! When my other half and I went away on holidays we would buy disposable cameras and take loads of photos of the places we went, but eventually I bought a little digital point & shoot to avoid the expense of getting photos developed and to always have a camera when I needed one.

Eventually I started getting very frustrated as I discovered how limited I was with the point & shoot, I really couldn't take the photos I wanted to. I had joined Flickr and was seeing more and more amazing shots and wanted badly to have the kind of camera that would allow me to do similar work. So eventually I figured out a way to get some money together and get myself a proper digital SLR and I haven't looked back since. It's the best buy I've ever made!

In the middle of all of this I also discovered the Holga and fell in love with the unique photography it produces. So I picked one up and enjoy using it a lot, although at the moment I've forbidden myself to use it as the cost of getting 120 film developed is quite high here and with saving for a wedding next year I really can't justify it!

The camera for me has become a wonderful means of expression and almost an addiction. Going on photo walks, playing around with photoshop and learning about photography have become some of my favourite ways to spend my time so keeping it going has never been an issue.

The End of Love is a Haunting ~

What do you enjoy photographing the most?

Hmm I'd have to say that what I love to shoot the most are things that I've baked, mainly because I get to eat them afterwards! Or any tasty foods in general really!

Apart from tasty things I really love to shoot anything that nature has to offer and especially enjoy going for dawn walks with the camera at home where my parents live in the country. I am never more inspired than when I'm out at 6am in the morning silence, just me, the camera and the new day!

Cupcake Breakfast ~

When it comes to learning new stuff where do you go for inspiration?

The internet is a constant source of inspiration for me. Through Flickr, other photosharing sites (like Deviant Art) and the blogosphere I generally come across quite a few images a day that will send me into a flurry of creative ideas! There is an endless amount of people out there sharing their beautiful work across the web and I very much enjoy looking through it all.

If I'm having problems with some technical stuff Youtube is fantastic for helpful tutorials from cropping in photoshop to light leak proofing your Holga, it's a great source of information.

Peonies ~

Which other photographers do admire and why?

There are too many people to mention here! I admire a lot of people, mainly folks that I have met through Flickr. I have to say that although I am interested in photography I don't know a huge amount about photographers themselves, I am inspired mainly by the people I come into contact with across the net rather than people who are famous for their photography, although that may change as I continue to learn, grow and be inspired by new artists every week.

At the moment I'm very taken with the Canelle at Vanille blog, Aran Goyoaga manages to create the most beautiful food photography I've seen and every time I go there I find myself wanting to either bake or pick up the camera!

She Watches Summer Seeping Into Earth ~

What future plans do you have for your photography?

At the moment I don't really have any plans as such, I'm still learning, enjoying myself and just seeing where it takes me. I'm having fun focusing on the blog and hope to continue to develop it and my Etsy shop. The only real plan I have is the notion of doing a course on food photography next September, but I'll have to wait and see what happens with that!

I'm hoping to start doing some TTV after Christmas (providing Santa brings me what I'm asking for!) so hopefully I'll have some good results to show from that pretty soon into January.

Dewdrops & Grasses ~

These are of course just a few of Éadaoin's wonderful photos I'm sure you can see why I love them so much! If you'd like to see more or even buy a couple of prints here are the links again - flickr and etsy

More of Éadaoin's photo's can also be found on her blog - City of Blackbirds which is definitely worth stopping by. Happy browsing!

Goodbye Summer ~

Let it snow!

2009-11-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

On second thoughts don't! it's quite cold enough thanks!

But that is the perfect excuse to be indoors and playing with crafty bits 'n' bobs.

The pattern for this awesome little snowflake can be found here!

I've not got around to deciding on a card for this wee gem, though I do have a couple of ideas I'm playing around with.

I do however have another snowflake design well under way -

6 repeats of the die cut shape held together with a brad and glittered to within an inch of its life :)

mounted simply on a small square of patterned scrapbook paper and again on a slightly bigger square of pearlescent scrapbook paper.

And just in case you're not feeling wintry enough...

... a few more winter sparkles!

Honeymoon Slice

2009-11-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

I've been putting off posting this recipe for a while now you'll see why when you get to the pictures! the pictures are dreadful!!! laugh till there are tears awful!!! it's not so much the photography it's more the state of the end product!
But first why I decided to try and make it ...

I was raking through some old books when I found this recipe and was immediately taken back to my childhood when this stuff was a regular in the local café. It is very sweet and calorie heavy so it was a once in a while treat and every bite was to be savoured. Now here I was with the recipe in hand and an up-coming event to bake for - it was a sign! It was meant to be!

The recipe looks like this -

Ingredients:
2 x 300g blocks white* milk or plain chocolate (the cooking variety)
12 oz dessicated coconut
2 oz glace cherries
1 tbs icing sugar
1 large tin condensed milk
1/2 cup rice crispies

Caramel:
1 tin carnation caramel

*white cooking chocolate is the quick route to madness! Congrats if you can get the suff to melt well, I just couldn't! this was the first hint of things to come..

First up you need to line a baking tray with cling film.
Now the first block of chocolate can be melted and spread on the bottom of the tray.
Chop the cherries and in a big bowl mix in with the coconut, icing sugar and condensed milk, this mixture can then be spread on the chocolate base which should be set.
Now pour the caramel over the top of the coconut mix and sprinkle the rice crispies over this.
Don't forget to scrape out the caramel tin with a big spoon and enjoy the dribbles that didn't make it on to the tray! (do this quietly so no one else in the house catches on and you can have it all to yourself!)
The other block of cooking chocolate can now be melted and spread over the top.
Allow to set then slice.

For me it was at the melting of the second block of chocolate that seriously began to go wrong. The first bar had been a bit troublesome so I figured I'd melt this one in two batches the first lot went well and was poured over the tray bake but the second lot wouldn't melt properly then in the blink of an eye it burnt! Aaarrrgh!!!So the half chocolated tray bake was covered and put in the fridge. With only one evening left to finish it I couldn't find any more white chocolate locally and frankly didn't want to so I resorted to milk chocolate and hid the white stuff beneath a nice thick layer of it! Genius!
Problem solved, next problem created!
When it came to cutting it I couldn't get the knife to go through the top layer of chocolate without squishing out all the yummy gooey layers below. Hot water didn't make the blade hot enough to go through the chocolate effectively so I resorted to some "don't try this at home" stuff and after many rounds of heating the knife over the gas stove I had a ~~sliced~~ hacked up tray bake!
Every piece unique! no two the same size and several with a top layer that had hints of white playing keek-a-boo!
Take a look for youself...

Before slicing

looks promising!

not for long ...

it looks like someone dropped a slab of chocolate on top of a chicken curry with rice (if it was a battle the curry definitely lost)

and finally ...

present cake with lumps, bumps and stuff oozing everywhere in pretty paper cases!

It tasted lovely inspite of all the problems and iffy looking end product. Amazingly not a piece was left after the coffee moring!

Zombie Walk

2009-11-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

A quiet Saturday afternoon in the West End of Glasgow... don't be daft, it's Hallowe'en and there's zombies about...
I've put a few of these pictures on flickr but here they are again along with the rest of the photos from the day...

It was a great afternoon, you all looked fantastically scary and I might even be persuaded to take part if it happens again!

Please let me know if you spot yourself! :)

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

So what are you dressing up as?

I think I'm digging out the Pink Lady costume, it's a bit of a no-brainer and can be sorted in minutes, perfect!

Toots has her vampire gear all organized including the fake fangs. The fangs are hilarious, they are a bit too big for her and she can hardly talk with them in though she does keep trying! So I keep having to decode slobery lispy stories and it's all I can do to stop laughing long enough, then she starts laughing too and well that's just too much slobber!!! lol!

Moving on from slobber to drool - I made some Halloween cakes today. I put pumpkin pie spice in one batch and oh! the smell was so drool worthy! They taste pretty good too :)

Pumpkin pie spice seems to be quite an American thing and I've never seen it in the shops here,could be I'm not looking properly, I tend to have a get in-get what you need-get back out asap approach to shopping. That said I do know where they keep the spices and you can make your own as follows

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

mix them all together and for the cup cakes I used about a tsp of the mix

the rest was stored for later.

Here's the end product -

I tried to make the pumpkin faces look scary but they could not be persuaded so I'm hoping the "Boo" cakes will provide the fright! lol! The black lines, in case you are squinting at the screen with a confused look on your face, are meant to be spiders webs :)

I think I need some more practice but it was huge amounts of fun especially colouring the icing.

Happy Halloween!

Just For Fun

2009-10-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

A simple but pretty distraction - making paper stars.

The really tiny ones were made from 3mm quilling paper strips and are about 6mm (1/4")

Here is a great set of instructions if you want to give these a try - origami stars

The only thing I would add is do not crease the folds, think of it more as wrapping the paper around the shape. The reason for this is that a sharp crease prevents the puffing up step from working as well.

yummy sticky messy noms!

2009-10-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

Also known as Canadian Roll, though to be honest I've always referred to it as the "stuff with the marshmallows in"! To be fair there's more than just mallows in fact the ingredients list looks like this -

15 marshmallows

15 glace cherries

15 digestive biscuits

a small can of condensed milk

1oz margarine (melted)

dessicated coconut

and the end product looks like this -

But before you get there you have to get sticky and messy! the fun bit!

First you need to cut the marshmallows and cherries - a tip for cutting the marshmallow, use the kitchen scissors and don't even think about trying for neat even sized pieces! (you could probably use mini mallows but where's the fun in that?)

Next the biscuits, put them in a food bag, push the air out and seal or tie the end shut. Now the good bit get your rolling pin out and smash them to smithereens! (great for stress reduction too :) ! )

Biscuit crumbs, mallows and cherries all go in a big mixing bowl then add the melted marge and stir in, it's not much marge but it is just enough.

More stickiness now as the condensed milk gets mixed in.

Now there are probably many ways to cover this sticky dollop in coconut but my preferred method was to put down some cling film put a thin layer of coconut over it, bring the mix out the bowl and work it into a sausage (about 3" in diameter) then roll it in the coconut and the convenience of this is that you can now wrap it in the cling film and put it in the fridge to set for a couple of hours.

Then all that is left to to is to slice it and present it nicely. Mine went into cake cases as they were for a coffee morning and needed to be kept separate.

Enjoy!

Why marbles?

2009-09-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

just because!!! :-p

That's the simple and kinda childish answer but it takes us right back to where my fascination with those colourful glass orbs began. I reckon it was probably when I was about 5 that I got my first set of marbles and it wasn't long before I had quite a collection. They were great for playing with and almost as good as Lego for leaving in the way of feet and/or the vacuum cleaner (accidentally of course) but more than anything it was the colours in them that fascinated me.

I could spend ages staring into a marble trying to figure out how exactly they got those colours in there and marveling at all the different twists and turns the colours took not to mention the way the light played through them. In case you were wondering I never did figure out for myself how they got those colours in there but I did find this fantastic video.

Even now I'm an adult (well so I'm told!) the beautiful simplicity of marbles still holds my attention and I rather enjoy the challenge of trying to photograph them - easier said than done but here are a couple of shots that turned out not too bad ...

so it begings

2009-08-24T14:00:00.001-07:00

so it begings, originally uploaded by coolcatcookie.

I love the autumn, well those first few weeks where it blurs with summer and it's colours are lit by the sun. It has a magic all of it's own.