Catch Up

It's been a while since I've had the chance to sit and diarize our life. Bryn's been and returned from a trip to Zimbabwe and South Africa. I survived 2 weeks of solo mothering (barely). And we have a whole bunch of fun memories mixed in, that I need to document. So while my 'blondies' (cousin to the famous brownie) are baking in the oven, I'll fill you in...oh, and you may just want an in on this recipe. It's yummo. So while I'm on a roll with the recipes, here it is too:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
140 g semi / bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts / pecan nuts
1 cup shredded coconut

Set oven to 160 deg C / 325 deg F
Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan
Sift into a bowl flour, baking powder, soda and salt
On medium speed, beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated.
Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in vanilla
Add dry ingredients, mixing until they disappear into the batter
Using a rubber spatula, stir in chips, nuts and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use spatula to even the top as best as you can
Bake for 40 mins, or until knife inserted into the centre of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown
Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool to room temperature right side up
Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches

Let's see...We enjoyed our previous camping experience so much, we decided to repeat. This time at Vlietland. Here are a couple of pictures of the 'dance' us girls made up :) Spot the dancers...


First day back for the 2010/2011 school year. The girls were very excited. So was I!!

I just love this one of Savannah...Mom, you're embarrassing me.

Our little socialite catching up with her buddies


I was privileged to have been asked to create a Christening cake for a friend of mine's grand daughter. My friend Eldor, carried it all the way to London (by aeroplane:)) for her grandbaby's special day. I love how it turned out.


And then we visited Sail Amsterdam again this year, with some great friends. We always seem to create the most hilarious memories when we're together. This time, with a couple of Russian sailors! Did you know that if a sailor gives you his hat, you're supposed to kiss him?






Finally, I'm excited to announce that I'll be flying to Milan in October to compete in the Figure competition section of Europe's Musclemania. I'm absolutely loving this experience, from the preparation and dedication, to the gruelling workouts, painful muscles and outfit planning. Bring it on! A very big thank you to my very supportive husband for helping me get this far.