Makala's 21st

On a cold miserable Saturday night the family decided to take a drive up to Devenport to help celebrate young (or not so young now) Makala's 21st birthday. We had a lovely meal at a little place called Molly Malone's. It was a really busy place and was a great counter meal!

It was lovely to catch up with a lot of the Weeden family, we have family from all over Tassie and even one from Melbourne! The kids had a blast and enjoyed hanging out together as they don't see each other all that often.

The cake was very cleverly done by a place called 'say it with cake'

It was a great night and we are all planned and booked to do it again in July when Anthony celebrates his 21st birthday!

A Vanilla Slice AND a Jelly Slice!

Yesterday I was busy doing some long awaited cooking that I have wanted to do for ages BUT have just been so busy!

The first think made was a vanilla slice! The recipe I used is:

2 Sheets Puff Pastry
1/2 Cup Caster Sugar
1/2 Cup Custard Powder
1 1/2 Cups Cream
2-2 1/2 Cups Milk
1 tsp vanilla

ICING
2 Cups Icing Sugar
1 tsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
hot water

1. Place pastry on a tray and prick it all over with a fork.Bake in an oven for 10-15 minutes at 220 degrees.
2. Put the sugar, custard powder and cream into a saucepan and stir over medium heat until it starts to thicken.
3. Slowly add 1/2 cup of milk at a time and whisk until the custard is thick.
4. Let everything cool slightly. Then in a 22cm tin add a sheet of pastry on the bottom, then the custard, then the second piece of pastry. Then finish with a layer of icing.
ICING
Place icing sugar, butter and vanilla into a bowl and add enough hot water to make a thin to medium textured icing.

Will is my judge to what he think!

JELLY SLICE (Just like Gran use to make!)

250g biscuits plain
200g butter melted
1 Tin Condensed milk
juice from 2 lemons
3 tsp gelatine
1/4 cup boiling water
1 packet of Raspberry Jelly

Make the Jelly as per packet direction, I actually made mine with half boiling water and stirred out the lumps then added half cold water to help cool it down.

Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter. Press into a slice tin.
In a bowl combine Condensed Milk, lemon juice and stir
In a small jug add the gelatine and boiling water and stir until no lumps.
Add the water and gelatine to the milk and lemon mix and whisk really well. Add the mix to the biscuit base.
When the jelly is cool add it to the top.
Put it in fridge and leave till set, be careful as the jelly is very messy when moving before it sets!

Again Will is the taste tester! And he gave the thumbs up and has already asked for another piece!

Packages

This month we got our package from Coles! Every 4 months they send us a package of things to trial and we jump on the web and do a review on what we think.

This time the box had heaps of interesting things in it from razors, shaving foam, cup of soup, muffin mix,n tomato sauce, chocolate biscuits and heaps of other things! 

The highlight of the box for Ryan was the choccie biscuits and razors! 

We also had a second package delivered the same day from Pa, it was addressed to Master William and was a Christmas train set! Of course this little man had heaps of fun when dad got home as dad is the master of putting train tracks together!

Walk with Me!

At the beginning of the month Amelia was an ambassador for a fundraising walk through the streets of Launceston. It was a really good day and heaps of people turned up and from what we heard heaps of money was raised. The walk was from Civic Square and went through the mall and then onto City Park where they had carnival performers and a Sausage sizzle. Amelia enjoyed her day, she even enjoyed the walk and we had to remind her to slow down as she wanted to walk super fast!

Australia's Master Chef Winner!

I was so excited to be able to meet Australia's first Master Chef Julie Goodwin today! She was in Birchalls signing copies of her new book, 'Our Family Table',  which she put together as one of her prizes for winning Master Chef last year. All I can say is that she was lovely and a very humble lady. What I got from chatting to her is that she is very focused on her family and that she loves them very much. When I asked her if she loves what she is doing now she said that she is very blessed. I said I was impressed how she used her family in lots of her things and she was excited to say that they were actually with her in Launceston today. Just the way she talks she is so down to earth and someone that I think is a deserving winner. I only got the book the other day so as yet have not had a chance to make anything from it BUT I have already highlighted a few recipes that I will be giving a try. What I also like about the book is that it is simple easy food that has been passed down either through her family from Grandmother, mother or Aunts or friends of her family. If anyone is in need for ideas for Mother's day they should maybe suggest a good cookbook like Julie's 'Our Family Table'. Well worth the money just now you wont be able to have it signed by her :(

Pumped for PUMP

Well after a painful three days I have finally completed Les Mills Body Pump training! It was the best three days and I have learnt heaps. I have done the PUMP release 73 so many times that its hard not to remember the moves! As with Les Mills training we were given a challenge on day two which consisted of going for a run and then doing some sprints then loading up the weights with either 50% to 75% more than we would do in a pump class. We then did stations in lots of the pump moves. Felt so stuffed after but it was a good stuffed!
We were each given two tracks that we had to learn and then take in front of the group. I got the squats track and the chest track. The music for both were excellent, DOA was the squats and it stands for dead on arrival. so good as a title for the workout. And the chest track was I got a feeling by the Black eyed peas. I passed the course and am well on my way in getting my own PUMP class to take. I can't wait!

This is the group after a big day three. I am amazed that we were all able to smile as we ad just not long finished our last workout for the weekend!

A BIG thankyou to our trainer Paul who was the best ever in giving us great feedback as well as correcting technique so we now can be world class PUMP instructors!

Its been a while!

Life has been so busy of late so have not had a chance to blog much, let alone take my camera out!
The only pics I have been taking are via the iphone so quality is not the best. So here are a few snaps with what we have been doing:

My Mum came up for a visit and and she brought William a builder set! As a result we have bee having some minor renovations going on at home! Love the hat I think that being a builder is a good idea as he can build us a great house one day.

Amelia was asked to be an Ambassador for a special walk to help raise awareness of children with disabilities in the community, she was asked to come and have a photo shoot for the examiner and to keep William entertained we took heaps of pictures on the camera! She was in the paper with the group last week. To find out more about the walk or to make a donation go to 

http://www.thankq.net.au/tq_community_abifa/default.aspx?Ref=P10463/168

The walk is on Sunday the 2nd May in Launceston starting in Civic Square and going to end in City Park. It starts at 11.30 but if you want to walk you need to be their a little earlier.

The monster trucks were in Launceston last weekend and we happened to see them around a few places. William loved the size of it and insisted on having his photo taken. In a way I would have loved to go and see them, showing my inner bogan, but it was a bit pricey to go.

William and I enjoyed a hot choccie the other day at Gloria Jeans, he thought is was super special to have his little mug of frothy milk, which was free as the deal is that it is free with any purchase. He especially liked the coloured sprinkles on top! He was such a crack up especially giving the thumbs up which he did on his own accord with no prompting from me, such a legend!